afterburn

Which Workout Burns The Most Calories After It’s Over?

A.K.A. the magic workout

Which Workout Burns The Most Calories After It’s Over?A.K.A. the magic workout

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Since you're well-read in the fitness department, you probably already know about the afterburn effect—i.e. how some workouts help you burn calories even after your sweat session is over. But what you may not know is which ones get the job done best—so we checked in with fitness expert Doug Barsanti, a certified strength and conditioning specialist and owner of ReInvention Fitness in Santa Cruz, California, to get the full scoop.

First and foremost: According to Barsanti, it's not an issue of strength training vs. cardio. At all. The key is to do unsustainable exercises, whatever those may be for you. "Anything that you can't sustain for more than a minute, give or take—basically anything that gets you breathing really hard until you feel like you may collapse—will burn the most calories after you're finished," he explains. (But, of course, you don't actually want to collapse. The goal is to work hard enough to feel challenged, but not so hard that you're crazy sore the next day—that won't help you in the long run and it could actually be dangerous. Check out the 5 Signs Your Workout is Too Intense.)

How does it work? It has to do with oxygen. See, when you do sustainable exercises—that is, anything that you can keep up for several minutes without much difficulty—your body uses a regular amount of oxygen. But when you push yourself to the max, your body uses more oxygen, which it then has to restore later on. And it's that very oxygen restoration process that burns the calories post-workout, because your body continues to work harder (and your metabolism remains revved) to repair itself, Barsanti says.

So what are some examples of unsustainable exercises? It really varies per person, says Barsanti. Most types of strength-training moves create some afterburn, because your body has to work harder while you're doing them. But it could also be bodyweight moves like squats, lunges, or jumps. It could even be 30-second sprints. The ultimate message is that if you're looking to burn the most calories after your workout, you have to push yourself pretty hard at some point during your workout. An easy half-hour jog, for instance, won't get the afterburn effect unless you incorporate sprints in there as well. (Want to try sprints? Check out this Fast-and-Furious Interval Workout.)